


But A Brush With The Devil Can Clear Your Mind

by Lilsciencequeen



Series: Season Five Fics [3]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Drama, Female Friendship, Females Supporting Females, Gen, POV Skye | Daisy Johnson, Somewhat Hopeful Ending, post 5x03
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-10
Updated: 2017-12-12
Packaged: 2019-02-13 06:45:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12978348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lilsciencequeen/pseuds/Lilsciencequeen
Summary: What happens when Daisy discovers where Jemma is.// Post 5x03





	1. Daisy

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers for 5x03.

Daisy hadn’t expected being taken prisoner could be so luxurious. Once she had woken up from whatever that gas was, she found herself in a room that was far more extravagant than what was probably downstairs, the rooms her team where probably in.

Her team…

They wouldn’t know where she was.

What had happened to her.

All they knew was that she was going on a rescue mission for Simmons, to free her from the clutches of the Kree, and now, here she was as well. Trapped.

They were now in a worse situation than what they had started in.

And as much as she hated thinking it, they had been right. Everyone had been right. She shouldn’t have just tried to break in like she had, storm the castle and rescue Simmons. She should have made a plan, worked things out.

Jemma was smart, she was resourceful. She had survived on a desert planet for six months, she could have survived this for several more days.

But no, she had to go and attempt a rescue mission, putting everyone at risk.

She would have continued in this spiral of decline with regards to her thoughts had there not been a knock on the door. Not that there was any point of the knock, for a few seconds later, the door opened and a woman entered, wearing a pale tunic and sporting a forehead of gold.

Daisy was about to question this, but they spoke first. “Kasius waits for you in the suite,” before turning on their heel and leaving.

“Wait!” Daisy called. “What? Who?” She pushed herself out of the bed, stumbling slightly and following the other woman out of the room. “What’s happening?”

The other woman, however, ignore Daisy, and continued walking, hoping to find out what the hell was happening at this point in time.

She almost crashed into the woman, who appeared to be nothing more than servant as she entered a room, two white sofas in the middle around a table, trees pressed against the walls. At first, she was in awe that despite all this destruction, this existed. This life.

Then she felt ill, wondering how this could exist while what remained of humanity lived in nothing more than squalor. These thoughts, and so many more, raced through her mind as she made her through the room, and she was lost in them that she never heard someone enter the room behind her.

“Quake,” the voice whispered, and it sent shivers down her spine. “I never thought that I would ever get to see the legend herself. To thank the legend herself.”

“What?” Daisy asked, staring at the Kree himself, at who must be Kasius.

“Come,” he beckoned instead, ignoring her question. “Take a seat. You must be exhausted. Hungry even after your travels. I’ll have someone bring in something to eat.”

Daisy looked around the room, and saw that it wasn’t just him who had entered, but someone else. Another Kree who stood in the corner of the room, silent, deadly, glaring at them. For some reason, she reminded Daisy of May. Of how the other agent used act in the early days.

And there was something about her. Something that told Daisy she had to sit down… or else. So Daisy did, taking a seat opposite the Kree.

“I have to thank you,” he told her, his voice calm with a slightly excited giddy undertone. “Without you, I could never have achieved all of this. You helped me get all of this and so much more. And for that, I thank you.”

Daisy frowned at him, not knowing how to answer this.

But he continued before she had a chance. “But you have many questions. Probably about Jemma.”

“You know where she is…” Daisy breathed, unable to help herself, not even questioning about how he knew her connection to Jemma.

“I do. And she’s safe, she’s alive. In fact, she’s here.”

Before Daisy had any chance to answer him, Jemma appeared but not in the way that she was expecting. Daisy was expecting blood, pain, torture. Not this. Whatever this was.

He had made Jemma into one of _them._ One of his servants.

“Jemma,” she whispered, watching as Jemma made her way gracefully across the room carrying a tray of food. “What happened?”

Kasius smiled at her, as if he were proud of what he had achieved. “She really is as intelligent as everyone said she was.”

“What did you do to her?” Daisy almost felt ill when Jemma set the tray down on the table between them and went to stand to the side of Kasius. There was a distant look in her eyes, as if she were having trouble focusing.

“Simple,” Kasius began, looking up at Jemma as if she were nothing more than something to look at. “Jemma here, she was a beauty, something that is so hard to come by nowadays. You know what it’s like. You need to cultivate the beauty, to protect it.”

“So what, you made Jemma into one of _them_? You’re keeping her as a slave, as some sort of prize?”

“No, I’m helping her. I’m keeping her alive, someone like her, she wasn’t made for a life like the one she had. She has something so much better here.”

“As one of your… What does Jemma think of this?” Because if this was really Jemma, deep down, then she knew that she would hate this. That she would be fighting this.

The smile that crept across Kasius’ face was cold and harsh. It made Daisy so very uncomfortable as he smiled up at Jemma. “Why don’t we ask her how she feels.”

“Happy. Kasius gave me purpose. He gave me a life. Without him I would be suffering.” The words were distant, her gaze even more so and the feeling of uneasiness returned.

“Jemma,” Daisy whispered, wanting nothing more than to communicate with her friend but she seemed to be unable to hear the Inhuman or unwilling.

“We can talk more about Jemma later, but for now. She has to leave...” He looked up at Jemma, and after a brief nod of her head, she turned on her heel, spinning and left the room once again, Daisy powerless to save her.

***

It was a number of days before she saw Jemma again, before she even heard about Jemma again. Every time she had tried to bring it up to one of the other servants, they acted like they couldn’t hear her, changing the topic. Kasius wasn’t much better either, always saying that the matter wasn’t important at that point in time, guiding Daisy to another point.

But eventually saw Jemma, the day that she was to fight in the arena. She hadn’t been able to sleep that night, something she hadn’t expected. She had been acting all confident about this, but now… now she was feeling the fear.

She was going to have fight someone she didn’t know, an Inhuman who could be more powerful than her… and Jemma was here. Her life was probably at risk. Her team, her friends were probably at risk. So she had to win. She had to.

And it was Jemma who was the one who seemed to be taking her down to the arena. Her gaze still seemed to be distant, unfocused.

“You’re to attend the competition now,” she explained, leaving the room almost as quick as she had entered it, and Daisy almost didn’t have time to grab her jacket, not wanting to lost Jemma in the corridors.

“Jemma!” she called after her friend once she caught up, and realised that the two of them were alone but there was still no answer from her. And then, it dawned on Daisy, that Jemma couldn’t hear her, that none of the servants could hear her.

It had to be that, it made the most sense. Why none of them could hear her, why none of them would answer her. Because they couldn’t hear, at all.

Maybe they could hear Kasius, maybe he had done something (he probably had, the creep. He seemed more than fond of his servants of being able to exercise his power over them), maybe he had taken their hearing from them. Stopped them from communicating with one another, maybe to stop them from rising up against him and his regime. Maybe to keep them in order.

Maybe maybe maybe.

There were so many maybes.

But at this point, with so much at stake, Daisy couldn’t let herself be distracted, she had to focus on the task at hand. Focus on the fight.

Then she could think about what came next. About what to do to save herself, to save her team.

To save Jemma.

And once they were safe, they could work out how to get back to Earth.

Their Earth. Not whatever hell this was.

Back to Earth and…

Fitz (God, after all that had happened recently, she hadn’t even thought about him, about what he must be going through. Because he would be suffering, going through hell all over again after the Framework. He had been taken from his team once again, had lost them once again. Had lost Jemma once again).

No, she was going to make everything right.

She had to.

Jemma stopped so suddenly that Daisy walked into the back of her, knocking her forward slightly, but that still didn’t seem to deter Jemma. She simply stepped aside, leaving Daisy standing in front of the doors to the arena. “Kasius wishes you fortune in the fight.”

And with those words of encouragement and nothing else, Jemma left, heading back down the corridor, probably off to serve the blue bastard once again, forced to do his bidding to stay alive.

Maybe he would even force her to watch the fight, as some form of punishment, some form of torture, something sick and twisted for his own form of enjoyment.

But the sound of the door opening soon bought her back to the matter at hand, the reason why she was here.

The fight.

And it was going to be one that she was going to win.

Not just for herself.

But for her team.

For Jemma.


	2. Chapter 2

_And if not for you, she wouldn’t have fetched such a high price._

Kasius’ words still swam in her mind, they wouldn’t leave her, no matter how hard she tried to rid herself of them. It was her fault that Abby was gone, taken who knows where in this universe. Being subjected to who knows what. She had wanted to protect the girl, to keep her alive, but now it seems that by doing that, she had possibly doomed the girl.

It hurt. It hurt to know that yet again, she had failed. That she had let someone down. Again.

But no one else seemed to be disappointed, in fact they all seemed proud, glad that Jemma had done what she had done. Glad that Abby had won, and was now off to fight and explore the galaxy.

Kasius himself seemed more than happy. He seemed exhilarated that Jemma had done good, he seemed proud of her even.

But that just made Jemma feel ill, he made her feel ill. The way he treated her as a thing, someone to be controlled. Nothing more than a pretty face.

And when he had given her her hearing back only to take it away again… she thought it had been hard losing it the first time, adjusting to a silent world that she wasn’t used to… but the second time, it was so much worse. It showed her that she was simply a _thing_ here, not even human and she could be used, something to fulfil their every need.

She stopped what she was doing, set the glass down. She knew that she had to calm down. To clear her mind and relax. Being angry like this, it was dangerous. She couldn’t risk dropping anything that she was cleaning, especially the good glass and silverware. Kasius wouldn’t like that.

And she didn’t want to get on his bad side. Not when she knew what the consequences would be.

Sighing to herself, she reached for a handful of cutlery and made her way across the room, placing it back in a drawer, nearly bumping into another servant who was prepping a plate of food as she did so when someone tapped her on the shoulder. She spun to face them, and even though she couldn’t hear, she knew what they were telling her to do.

To carry out the plate of food to Kasius’ suite, for him and one of his many esteemed guests to enjoy. She nodded once they had left, taking it and beginning the walk to the suite. She had no idea who to expect, she had no idea who any of them where. She knew no names but she had decided to refer to each of them by what they looked like.

So when she went out there, she was expecting Kasius to have some guest, some high figure. Maybe even royalty. But there was one thing, something that she was not expecting.

And the one thing she was not expecting however, was Daisy to be sitting there.

Daisy…

She instantly felt guilty that Daisy was there because it must have been her fault. Daisy must have come to rescue her.

And now she was at risk too, maybe doomed to this silent life of slavery like she was.

But she continued walking across the room, not so much as even putting a toe out of line because she knew if she did, she wouldn’t be leaving this room alive. So she set the tray down on the table, and stood beside the Kree’s seat, waiting to be dismissed, her attention focused on the back of the room. Out of her peripheral vision (or what remined of it) she saw Sinara, as threatening as ever.

“Why don’t we ask her how she feels.” The cold words from Kasius pierced through Jemma’s mind and though it was blurred, she saw Sinara lift those orbs of hers, and spin them around in the palm of her hand. A threat.

“Happy. Kasius gave me purpose. He gave me a life. Without him I would be suffering.” The words were carefully chosen, something that she knew she had to do. And she wanted nothing more than to drop her gaze, to take in her friend, to tell the woman that she considered that she was okay, that she should take care of herself. But she couldn’t.

She couldn’t. She was so alone here and it hurt.

“She has to leave.”

The command cut through her, and she nodded down at what had become her master before turning on her heel and leaving, knowing that her presence was no longer required here. That she was to get back to what her duty was.

And as she did leave, she found it very hard to fight the tears that threatened to fall.

***

She never saw Daisy again for a number of days, as it seemed that Kasius didn’t want her around the Inhuman. He must have known of their connection, of their love for each other. He had to. Why else would he have showed her off in front of Daisy, showed the power that he held over her.

No, instead he had her cleaning the rooms of his guests, making sure they were more than perfect. Cleaning every last inch of them (and that included the bathrooms, something that she tried not to think about for longer than she had to), making sure they were spotless. An embodiment of the perfection he so loved.

When she wasn’t doing that, she was serving guests at the torments, at the fights, making sure they were happy, at peace. Making sure they were fed when there were so that were suffering, that were starving.

She didn’t hear anything in those days, Kasius not deeming her worthy of hearing any of their conversations, but that didn’t stop him showing her off, of them staring at her, degrading and belittling her. She was getting better at not flinching whenever the touched her cheek, their fingers sometimes cold, sometimes warm, caressing her cheek.

It still made her sick to her stomach though but she had to put up with this.

If she wanted to survive.

If she wanted to see her family again, her team again.

Fitz again.

Fitz…

She had tried to push him from her mind the past few days, knowing that if she dwelled on him for too long, it would just bring tears and sadness, something that would ruin the paint, something that would mar the perfection she was.

Something that would lead to her death and make sure she never saw Fitz again.

She just hoped that wherever, _whenever_ , he was, he was happy. He was well. And if he was dead, then she hoped that he had a good life. That he lived well and forgave himself for what had been done.

She just wished that she could have spent her life with him, and not here, doomed to be a servant for the rest of her life (not that it would be long with Kasius in control. He would probably have her killed before she got too old) or until her team rescued her. But at this point, she saw no way out of this.

Not without lives being lost.

Something that she wanted to prevent. Nobody else deserved to die simply because she did the wrong thing, because she wasn’t good enough.

Because of her.

***

The next time she did see Daisy, it was the day it was her turn to fight in the tournament, the competition. And that terrified Jemma. She had been helping there, serving those who were lucky enough to be spectators and not servants or competitors.

She had seen how strong, how tough some of the competitors were.

It wasn’t like she doubted Daisy’s ability. She knew how strong her friend was.

But she also knew the limit to Daisy’s powers. She also knew what could happen if Daisy didn’t wear her gauntlets. And she would much rather avoid that.

She had been sent to collect her that morning, Kasius commanding to her to once she had bought him his breakfast, once she had set it on his table. He hadn’t even turned to face her that morning, instead choosing to stare out the window, at the vast expanse of space, Jemma only catching glimpses of it from her position.

But once the command had come, she left, not wanting to delay by even a second and as she headed to Daisy’s room, the corridors already lively and bustling, she felt her stomach twist. She hadn’t seen Daisy properly since the day she had been captured, hadn’t had a glimpse of her since Daisy had also been captured and now she was to take Daisy to the arena.

She almost wasn’t sure she could do it. If she could face Daisy like this properly, dressed up like one of the servants that represented everything she was against. She wasn’t sure what Daisy thought of her. Was the Inhuman angry? Did she feel sorry for her?

Did Daisy even know that she had lost her hearing, and her vision wasn’t that better?

Did Daisy know that she was in control of each and every one of her actions?

Shaking those thoughts from her mind, she knocked on the door to the bunk that belonged to her friend and pushed it open. “You’re to attend the competition now.” She had no idea how the words even sounded without her being able to hear them, she had no idea if she was whispering or if she were shouting.

And as soon as she said the words, she turned and left, as that was easier than facing her friend like this. She knew that Daisy would follow her because Daisy wasn’t going to let her get away, not again. And she was too damn curious, sometimes too curious for her own good.

As she led Daisy down the corridors, possibly to somewhere that could lead to her being injured (or to her death, but Jemma tried not to dwell on this point), she had no idea if Daisy was trying to talk to her. And she couldn’t even turn around to explain the situation, she had to keep playing her part. She had to keep up this pretence, and she just hoped Daisy caught on to what was happening.

Finally, they reached the door to the arena, and Jemma stopped, maybe more suddenly that she had planned to, as she felt Daisy bump into her back slightly, but at this, she simply stepped to the side, her arms crossed in front of her chest.

“Kasius wishes you fortune in the fight.”

The words left her, and then she left, heading back down the corridor. She didn’t look back, she couldn’t for so many reasons. She had to leave.

She had to return back to her position, had to return to her place, and she tried to ignore the worries in her mind, but it was hard when it was the only thing that was there for you.

So she tried to hope instead.

She tried to hope that it would all be okay.

That Daisy would win and that they would get back to their own time, that they would escape this, but at this point, she wasn’t too sure.

“Ahhh,” Kasius said once Jemma entered his balcony, where he could watch over everyone. He lifted a glass from her tray and smiled that smile that sent shivers down her spine, that made her squirm. “You’re just in time for the big event.”

She looked at where he was looking and saw that Daisy had entered the arena, and for the briefest moment, the two women made eye contact.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shout out to the guy who probably read this over my shoulder on the train!! I hope you enjoyed! 
> 
> And you guys too, thanks for all the support on this lil fic!

**Author's Note:**

> There's gonna be a second part, from Jemma's POV instead in the next couple of days so feel free to keep an eye out for that! 
> 
> Thanks for checking out this one! I hope that you guys enjoyed it!


End file.
